1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a transparent toner and a toner image using the same, an electrostatic latent image developer, a toner cartridge, a process cartridge, an image forming apparatus, and an image forming method.
2. Related Art
A method using electrophotography or the like in which image information is visualized through an electrostatic latent image, is currently being used in various fields. In electrophotography, image information is visualized as an image through the following processes: a charging and exposure (latent image forming) process in which an electrostatic latent image containing image information is formed on the surface of a latent image holding member (photoreceptor); a transfer process in which a toner image is developed on the surface of the photoreceptor by using a developer containing a toner and this toner image is transferred onto a recording medium (transfer medium) such as paper; and a fixing process in which the toner image is fixed onto the recording medium.
In color electrophotography which has been widely used in recent years, in order to form a color image, in general, colors are reproduced using four color toners including three color toners (yellow, magenta, and cyan which are three subtractive primary colors) and black toner.
In general color electrophotography, colors of a document image (image information) are separated into yellow, magenta, cyan, and black and an electrostatic latent image is formed on the surface of the photoreceptor for each color. At this time, the electrostatic latent image which is formed for each color toner is developed using a developer containing each color toner and thus a toner image is formed. Then, the toner image is transferred onto the recording medium through the transfer process. A set of processes from the electrostatic latent image forming process to the process of transferring the toner image onto the recording medium is performed sequentially for each color. The toner image of each color overlaps and is transferred onto the surface of the recording medium so as to match the image information. In the transfer process, the toner image is transferred onto the recording medium through an intermediate transfer member or is transferred directly onto the recording medium.
Accordingly, a color toner image, which is obtained by transferring the toner image of each color onto the recording medium, is fixed as a color image through the fixing process.
In the color image forming process, in addition to yellow (Y), magenta (M), cyan (C), and black (BK) toners which are used in the related art, there have been attempts to use a transparent toner for correcting a gloss difference in the surface of an image, controlling a gloss on the surface of a transfer paper, and correcting an image density and an amount of toner attached.
Furthermore, there have been attempts to use the transparent toner for giving a stereoscopic effect to an image.